Статья "MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY OF NICHOLAS KURTI"

MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY OF NICHOLAS KURTI

К.С. Кузьмина, В.Г Курелёнок

Муниципальное автономное общеобразовательное учреждение лицей №7 г.Томска

When people hear the words molecular gastronomy or molecular cuisine for the first time they often mistakenly view it as unhealthy, synthetic, chemical and unnatural. The science lab equipment used just helps modern gastronomy cooks to do simple things like maintaining the temperature of the cooking water constant (water bath), cooling food at extremely low temperatures fast (liquid nitrogen) or extract flavour from food. [1]

We made a survey at our lyceum and found out that 64% of the students know what molecular cuisine is, and it proves once again that molecular gastronomy is quite popular. A little more than half of the students answered correctly that molecular gastronomy appeared - in the 20th century. The third part thinks that molecular cuisine - is a completely new technology and supposes that the molecular kitchen appeared in the 21st century.

The term "molecular gastronomy" was coined in 1988 by late Oxford physicist Nicholas Kurti and the French chemist Herve This. Some chefs prefer other terms such as multi-sensory cooking, modernist cuisine, culinary physics, and experimental cuisine. Molecular Gastronomy - section trophology associated with the study of physical and chemical processes that occur while cooking.

Nicholas Kurti’s hobby was cooking, and he was an enthusiastic advocate of applying scientific knowledge to culinary problems. In 1969 he gave a talk at the Royal Society titled "The physicist in the kitchen", in which he amazed the audience by using the recently invented microwave oven to make a "reverse Baked Alaska", aka Frozen Florida (cold outside, hot inside). Over the years he organized several international workshops in Erice, Italy on "Molecular and Physical Gastronomy." [2]

A number of basic techniques of molecular gastronomy:

Gelification is defined as the process of turning a substance into a gelatinous form. With this process, liquid substances are converted into solids with the help of a gelling agent. Common gelling agents come from natural sources and include agar-agar, gelatin and pectin. [3]

Spherification is the culinary process of shaping a liquid into spheres which visually and texturally resemble roe. The technique was originally discovered by Unilever in the 1950s and brought to the modernist cuisine by the creative team at elBulli under the direction of executive chef Ferran Adrià. [4]

Emulsification is the technique used to incorporate and stabilize air bubbles in a liquid mixture. It is possible to incorporate air bubble into a liquid simply by whisking vigorously. However, this phase is highly unstable and the air escapes in a relatively short time. To avoid

this instability, an emulsifier can be incorporated into the solution. Egg and milk protein, bread starch, gelatin and cream fat are common emulsifiers that have used in traditional cuisine for a long time.

Deep Freezing. Liquid nitrogen has long been used in molecular gastronomy demonstrations and the instantaneous vapor cloud that results from the condensation of ambient air is very impressive. However, besides its “wow” effect, there’s another reason for this technique’s enduring popularity. Due to its ability to quickly cool preparations, liquid nitrogen significantly outperforms the classic freezing process. Freezing at -4°F (-20°C) causes water to form into increasingly larger crystals and alters the product’s initial structure. Frozen products thus lose a lot of their water and soften. The radical change in temperature brought about by nitrogen ensures the formation of much smaller ice crystals that leave the product’s cell structure intact. In cooking, liquid nitrogen is used as a coolant. It is not an ingredient and so it is never ingested; it cools the food, then evaporates. The food can be ingested only after the liquid nitrogen has fully evaporated. [5]

Sous-vide is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath or in a temperature-controlled steam environment for longer than normal cooking times - 96 hours or more, in some cases - at an accurately regulated temperature much lower than normally used for cooking, typically around 55 °C to 60 °C for meats and higher for vegetables. [6]

Flash freezing involves the use of very low temperatures to quickly freeze food. This technique allows liquids to be frozen completely or partially. As a result it is possible to create fluid filled frozen dishes with solid outer shells. The process of rapid freezing is done with the use of a cryogenic system. Liquid nitrogen is a common tool used in the process of flash freezing due to its extremely low temperatures and cooling properties. The liquefied gas reacts with the food that it comes into contact with and results in the formation of small crystals that solidifies food without affecting taste. [7]

Caramelization is the browning of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color. As the process occurs, volatile chemicals are released, producing the characteristic caramel flavor. [8]

Have learnt the basic techniques we decided to cook a dish of molecular gastronomy at home.

The major challenge is finding good molecular cuisine recipes with complete detailed explanations and good photos that show how finished dishes are supposed to look. Once you learn the basic principles behind each recipe and technique you can be creative and come up with your own dishes.

We have found a lot of dishes of molecular gastronomy. They are quite diverse. Each serves different components, different textures, different colour contrasts.

For cooking we chose a dessert "Fruit Mix," we used two techniques of molecular gastronomy: spherification and gelification.

Peach pearls Instructions:

1. Place the sunflower oil in the fridge for 15 minutes.

2. Pour into the pan peach juice and agar agar, bring it to the boil.

3. Take off the heat.

4. Fill a syringe with the mixture of juice and agar agar and expel it drop by drop into the cold oil.

5. Rinse the pearls and dry them on paper towels

Quick Agar Spaghetti Instructions:

1. Place some ice and cold water in a bowl.

2. In a pan place the liquid that you want to jellify.

3. Add the Agar Agar.

4. Bring it to the boil, stirring constantly with a spoon.

5. Take off the heat.

6. Fill the syringe with the preparation and connect the rolled tube to it.

7. Disconnect the tube from the syringe and place the tube in the iced water. Let it rest for 1 or 2 minutes.

8. Fill the syringe with air and connect it again with the tube. Press on the syringe pump and expel the spaghetti out of the tube. When possible expel directly onto the serving dish.

We liked to cook dishes of molecular gastronomy. It is more difficult than traditional cuisine, but much more interesting. We could cook dishes of molecular gastronomy at home, with the study of physical and chemical processes. We enjoyed the meal we prepared ourselves. It is colourful, tasty and unusual.

Литература

1. What is Molecular Gastronomy? http://www.molecularrecipes.com/molecular-gastronomy/
2. Nicholas Kurti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Kurti
3. Gelification http://www.modernistcookingmadeeasy.com/define/molecular-gastronomy-glossary/what-is/gelification
4. Spherification http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherification
5. Deep Freezing http://molecule-r.com/de/content/113-molecular-gastronomy-techniques-deep-freezing
6. Sous-vide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide
7. Freezing Technique http://www.modernistcookingmadeeasy.com/info/modernist-techniques/more/freezing-technique
8. Caramelization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caramelization

Научный руководитель: учитель английского языка,

Волкова Е.В.